Rice owes its success in large part to the strong foundation laid by Board Chairman Baker more than a century ago. For 50 years this respected lawyer, banker, businessman and civic leader preserved and guided the legacy of his client, William Marsh Rice.

Baker recognized that a university of national importance would propel Houston into the ranks of America's great industrializing 20th century cities. He interpreted Rice's wishes broadly, and he built a transformative center of learning to drive his city, region and nation forward.

William Marsh Rice came to Texas from Massachusetts in 1838. He made his millions brokering cotton, building railroads and investing in Houston's industries. By 1891 he wanted to give back to the city that had nurtured him.

A childless man, Rice decided to establish an institute that would train Texas youth - free of charge - for jobs in the new industries of his day. Rice asked his 34-year-old lawyer James A. Baker to be chairman for life of a seven-member board; he signed the institute's first charter; he donated $200,000 and 7.5 acres of land in downtown Houston; and he told his board to build an institution of higher learning after his death. For the next nine years, Rice made additional donations and wrote a will that left most of his fortune to his institute.

These well-intentioned plans almost floundered. On Sept. 23, 1900, a treacherous valet, guided by a venal lawyer, murdered William Marsh Rice by suffocating the sleeping man with chloroform. Claiming Rice died of natural causes, the lawyer, Albert T. Patrick, produced a forged will and tried to seize Rice's fortune.

Into the breach strode James A. Baker. He rushed to New York, confronted Patrick, and helped the district attorney send the conniver to prison. Baker hired outstanding New York lawyers to prove the Patrick will a forgery. He returned to Houston and began planning how best to fulfill Rice's trust and establish an institution of higher learning.

Baker, a native of Huntsville, had been practicing law with his father in Houston since 1879. Esteemed as a man of integrity who worked hard to accomplish his goals, Baker showed a marked ability to choose talented associates and to envision a great future for Houston.

With two brilliant partners, Baker transformed a small-town law practice into the city's first modern, nationally recognized law firm - known today around the world as Baker Botts LLP With far-sighted investors, he founded two major regional banks, and with skilled entrepreneurs he created local businesses and brought electricity to all parts of the city. Most important, Baker understood the centrality of knowledge to the industrializing economy of early 20th century Houston.

Rice offered a noble plan when he chartered his institute in 1891 - to train Texas youth for practical careers. But Baker proposed a more expansive vision after the founder's death. Baker controlled the largest pot of money in the region - the Rice fortune. He decided to advance literature, science and art by creating a great university that would educate young Texans and generate new knowledge through research.

Baker and his board purchased nearly 300 acres of land four miles from downtown. They hired Edgar Odell Lovett, an accomplished young mathematician who had taught at leading universities known for their research practices and curriculum reforms. They supported President Lovett's ambitious plans for a handsome campus, and they endorsed the president's academic program. For three decades after the opening festivities until his death in 1941, Baker preserved the legacy of Rice by expanding the endowment and securing the institute's financial position.

James A. Baker secured the legacy of William Marsh Rice by laying the foundation for a transformational center of learning; he ensured his own legacy by demonstrating good judgment, by maximizing opportunity and by guiding institutions whose civic value has long outlived him.

Kirkland, a freelance historian based in Houston, has recently published "Captain James A. Baker of Houston, 1857-1941."